Venom Boards from The Canary Islands are hitting the mountainboard scene… We spoke to Ivan about their all new carbon-fibre decks

Tenerife may seem an unlikely spot for the birth of a new mountainboard company.

If you’re just thinking about beach holidays then you may be one of 5 million tourists who visit every year, but then when you learn this island in The Canaries has the highest elevation in all of Spain and is actually the third tallest volcanic island in the World, you may too realise this is a riding destination and a half.

Of course if you were a local and lived in this naturally stunning mountainous terrain, and mountainboarding had found you, then well, the blue sky is the limit!

So who are Venom Boards, and what’s the story?…

Ivan and Javito Mederos started down this path as two brothers who loved alternative sports, mixed with nature. Living on Tenerife let them have that outdoors lifestyle with it’s year round good weather.

They bumped into Mountainboarding while growing up and started this great adventure… Ivan says:

“Javi and I bought our first Mountainboard years ago and fell in love with it. We made our first trips to mainland Spain where we met other riders and made great friends. That made us give in to the world of the Mountainboard haha. In 2010 we had the idea of creating our proper label Venom and our proper decks.

It has been a great effort with lots of challenges but after specializing in resin, fibre, laminates and composites we´ve been able to make a top quality product, all hand made by us.”

So like many grass-roots engineers and manufacturers, this was a very garage operation. Nowadays they’re a bigger group, with friends that work alongside them who also wish to innovate and give a new option to the riders.

They wanted something suited to the individuals type of riding: a unique alternative, personalised made with the best materials, all hand crafted, like the finest surfboards. They also had access to the tech…

“We tested a few models with a sandwich structure, wood core differenced by the use of carbon, glass and other fibres creating adapted decks, being able to modify the stiffness, the pop, and the finish. This can all now be chosen by the rider.

The graphics are made using water transfer, although we are trying other methods. And because the latest deck is made with carbon fiber it has that finish.”

As well as deck engineering, the guys are keen dirt-park constructionists too. Well, you gotta have somewhere to hit some jumps and call home to the crew… It’s in a village on the lower slopes of the North East of the island:

“Venom Park is in Tacoronte. We’ve been working for 3 years on it, before that having rode just on the mountain that we also still visit.

The Park is a small spot where we hang out and ride and try our decks, and invite everyone that’s willing to come and try or people just pass by and see what Mountainboarding is. Our friends Jonay, Pablo and Fabian are the ones that are mostly implicated in this project, but there´s a bunch of people who are always willing to help us in making the jumps and features etc and of course in making Venom and mountainboarding move forward.”

They’ve held small comps, fun days, and given free lessons. It’s in true backyard ghetto mountainboard style, and they ride like mad – when it’s not too hot!

“Our purpose as the label Venom is to fill a hole in the market, and to help this sport to develop.”

The decks are available at the moment through them personally and will be for sale online when the dedicated webspace is complete:

“In April we hope to have the website finished but already we are starting to commercialize. The prices will range from 280€ water transfer finish or 290 € with carbon fiber, but could vary depending on the desired characteristics”.

So competitive prices on a bespoke product? Sounds good to us.

You can keep up to date and contact Venom via Facebook, and they’re now on Instagram too. Like and Follow!